The Southbury Public Library Youth Services department is pleased to announce its event list for April for children and teens. All programs are generously sponsored by the Friends of the Southbury Public Library. For more information and to register online please visit our website: www.southburylibrary.org/events.
Children’s Programs:
Tiny Food Explorers (Ages 2-5) – Wednesday, April 1, 11am-12pm, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join Tiny Food Explorers for some fun with food! Come and explore new flavors and textures while playing games all about food and MyPlate! You’ll make a hands-on healthy snack that even the pickiest of eaters will enjoy!
Tunes & Tales (Recommended for Ages 5 & Under) – Thursday, April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 10:30-11am, Storytime Room, No Registration Required. Join Jen for a morning filled with music and stories! Children will sing, dance, and explore musical instruments.
Take or Make Craft (All Ages) – Saturday, April 4, 11, 18, 25, Youth Services Department, While Supplies Last. Stop by the Youth Services Department on Saturdays this month to make a thematic paper craft. Make it here or bring it home. Crayons and glue available in the library. Appropriate for all ages. Young children may need assistance.
Poppi’s Planet (Ages 0-5) – Saturday, April 4, 11am-12pm, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Get transported to Poppi’s Planet! An interactive performance lesson with music, dance and puppetry! Get ready to celebrate what it means to be our unique selves! A social emotional performance art adventure! Big feelings, emotions and lessons to be resilient! Leave with joyful, mindful hearts!
Drop-In Storytime (All Ages) – Monday, April 6, 13, 20, 27, 10:30-11am, Storytime Room, No Registration Required. Join Jen for an all-ages storytime! We'll share books, rhymes, and songs, and a small craft will be available to make with us or take home.
Babies & Books (Ages 6-24 months) – Tuesday, April 7, 14, 21, 28, and May 5, 10:30-11:30am, Storytime Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Babies & Books is a six-week series lapsit storytime for children 6 to 24 months and their parents/caregivers. Listen to short stories and songs.
Family Giant Games Afternoon (All Ages) – Monday, April 13, 12:30-2pm, Kingsley Room, No Registration Required. Join us for an afternoon of Giant Games! Drop in between 1-3pm to enjoy a variety of traditional, larger than life, board games. This event is perfect for families or a group of friends; if a team is not made of middle schoolers and above, an adult must be present.
Zoom - Let’s Draw Impossible Animals! With Rick Stromoski (Ages 7-11) – Monday, April 13, 4-5pm, Online via Zoom, Registration Required. Award-winning cartoonist Rick Stromoski will show you how to draw amazing animals!
Food Explorers Baking: Berry Monkey Bread & Lemon Sugar Cookie Trifles (Grades 2-5) – Thursday, April 16, 10am-12pm, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join Food Explorers for a hands-on baking class making two brand new recipes! You’ll be making Berry Monkey Breads by making your own dough and mixing with berries to create this sticky pull apart dessert. You’ll whip up Lemon Sugar Cookie Trifles by layering up homemade cookies, lemon flavored pudding and homemade whipped cream. These recipes are nut free but do contain eggs, dairy and gluten.
Yoga for Kids (Ages 6-10) – Saturday, April 18, 10:30am-11:30am, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. CT Yoga instructor Nick Switz, certified with five years of experience and training from Radiant Child Yoga, guides children through a playful class. The class is guided throughout with yoga-based games and captivating stories, fostering creativity, cooperation, and body awareness. The class ends with a calming guided story, offering a moment of reflection.
LEGO Club (Grades K-5) – Tuesday, April 21, 4:30-5:30pm, Storytime Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join us for an afternoon of LEGO fun! We’ll provide the LEGO bricks, and you bring the creativity! You can free build, or work off of instructions.
Yoga for Kids (Ages 2-5) – Friday, April 24, 10:30-11:15am, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. CT Yoga instructor Nick Switz, certified with five years of experience and training from Radiant Child Yoga, guides children through a playful class. The class is guided throughout with yoga-based games and captivating stories, fostering creativity, cooperation, and body awareness. The class ends with a calming guided story, offering a moment of reflection.
Family Trivia Night (All Ages) – Friday, April 24, 6:30-8pm, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join us for another Family Trivia night! Work together as a family team to answer our trivia questions! We'll have a variety of topics, including kid-centric knowledge, general information, and questions aimed at parents, too. The family who answers the most questions correctly will win a $100 gift card to Riverview Cinemas!
Makerspace Morning (Ages 5-12) – Saturday, April 25, 10-11:30am, Storytime Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join us to explore, think, and create in our mobile makerspace! Choose from a wide range of materials to create something new and unique, or complete a craft project using provided instructions.
Read with SPG: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover (Ages 1-5) – Wednesday, April 29, 10:30-11:30am, Storytime Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Enjoy an interactive read-along led by a Speech Language Pathologist! Using this fun thematic book, the SLP will demonstrate how shared reading builds vocabulary, expands language, and encourages participation - all while having fun!
Teen Programs:
Teen Crochet Club (Grades 6-12) – Tuesday, April 7, 21, 6:30-7:30pm, Brown Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join us for our crochet (and knitting) club, open to both new and experienced crafters alike. If you’re already working on a project, bring it with you. If you’re new to knitting and crocheting, get started with us! We will have basic knitting and crocheting supplies available. Attend one or both meetings.
Blackout Poetry (Grades 6-12) – Thursday, April 9, 6-7pm, Brown Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join us to create blackout poetry, a fun and easy way to make poetry and art while upcycling old book pages. With blackout poetry, you take an already existing page of text and cross out all the words you don’t want to keep in your poem. You can cross them out with straight lines, squiggles, or anything you like to create a unique mix between poetry and art.
Food Explorers: Monkey Bread & Strawberry Shortcake Parfaits (Grades 6-12) – Thursday, April 16, 1-3pm, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join Food Explorers for a hands-on baking class! You’ll be making your own dough to create a delicious Chocolate Monkey Bread, followed by a from scratch Strawberry Shortcake Parfait full of homemade cake, fresh strawberries and whipped cream. These recipes are vegetarian and nut-free, but will contain dairy, eggs, and gluten.
Family Trivia Night (All Ages) – Friday, April 24, 6:30-8pm, Kingsley Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Join us for another Family Trivia night! Work together as a family team to answer our trivia questions! We'll have a variety of topics, including kid-centric knowledge, general information, and questions aimed at parents, too. The family who answers the most questions correctly will win a $100 gift card to Riverview Cinemas!
Cute Animals Hangout (Grades 6-12) – Thursday, April 30, 6-7pm, Brown Room, Registration Required - Space Limited. Come hang out with a variety of cute animals, both furry and scaly! Meet, interact with, feed snacks to, and pet a variety of animal friends including bunnies, ferrets, sugar gliders, snakes, a bearded dragon, and more.
Reading Programs for Children & Teens:
April Monthly Mini Reading Challenge (Grades K-12) – April 1-30, In Person and Online at southburylibrary.beanstack.com. Join us on Beanstack for our next Mini Monthly Reading Challenge, themed Fall into Reading! Read for five hours (about 1-3 books for elementary, middle, and high school readers) and get a SurPRIZE. Continuing this month: you can track your reading on a paper bookmark instead of on Beanstack and adults can join in, too!
1000 Books Before Kindergarten (Birth to Entering Kindergarten) – Ongoing, On Paper and Online on Beanstack. Read a book (any book!) to your newborn, infant, or toddler and keep track with a paper log or on Beanstack. Repeats count! 1000 books may seem like a lot, but if you read 1 book a day for 3 years, that’s 1095 books! 10 books a week for 2 years is 1040 books, and 3 books a day in one year is 1095 books. Every book you read you get one sticker, and if you finish you can get a certificate, small prize, and your picture on our wall of fame if you’d like! Pick up a paper log from the children’s department or visit southburylibrary.beanstack.com to get started online. For 0 to Entering Kindergarten.
100 Books Before Graduation (Grades 9-12) – Ongoing, Online at Beanstack. Read 100 books before High School Graduation! 100 books may seem like a lot (and it is), but it works out to about 1 book every 2 weeks. When you sign up, get a special tracking bookmark to fill out as you read. Make it to half way and get a $5 Gift Card to Dunkin' or The Bakery. Read 100 books and get a special throw blanket! Every 10 books you read, pick out something from the prize box (pins, pens, animal sticky notes, and more!).
Please visit the Southbury Public Library website at www.southburylibrary.org/events for program details and registration information. Visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/SouthburyLibraryYouthServices/